People are often surprised to learn these 12 little known facts about foods they commonly eat. I thought I would share these with you this week.

Did you know?

• Oats do not contain gluten however they are made in facilities where they become tainted with wheat/gluten.  If you are looking for gluten free oats, the package needs to say ‘made in a wheat free facility.’

• Spelt and Kamut contain smaller amounts of gluten than wheat and therefore are more digestible grains.

• Oranges are a mucus causing food – if your child is always suffering from a runny or stuffy nose, try removing their daily glass of orange juice.  If the symptoms don’t clear up entirely, there may be other foods to which they are reacting adversely.

• If you are sensitive to any of the foods in the nightshade family of foods, which includes red peppers, potatoes, eggplant and tomatoes, these foods will contribute to the inflammation in your body and therefore be a contributor to migraines, arthritis etc.  Any illness that ends in ‘itis’ is caused by inflammation.

• People worry about white rice being high on the glycemic index.  White basmati rice, however, is low on the glycemic index.

• Seaweed is not often used in the North American diet but if you were to purchase strips of it from the health food store and add it to a pot of rice or pasta that you are boiling on the stove, the grains will absorb all of the minerals from the seaweed yet not taste like seaweed. Don’t forget to discard the seaweed at the same time that you drain the water from the rice or pasta.

• Homemade juices and smoothies are both needed by the body.  The juice is like jet fuel for the bloodstream and sends nutrients directly into the bloodstream and circulating through the body.  The fiber in the smoothie is vital for proper body functioning.

• Hard, aged cheeses are far better digested than the softer, newer cheeses.

• We all know that many people react to the lactose in milk (milk sugar) but few know that many react to the proteins e.g., casein or fat content in milk.

• Any food can cause adverse reactions in an individual – the worst culprits being the foods we eat the most often.

• The food that contains the most easily absorbed calcium and is therefore the best source of calcium (provided you are not sensitive to it), is sesame seeds – not dairy.

• Quinoa is a grain that contains protein and good fats.  Please remember to rinse it first, before boiling it, to eliminate the slight bitter taste of the grain.  Quinoa can be eaten at any meal of the day. Kids love it for breakfast with a little maple syrup and sliced bananas.

Were there any surprises here? I’d love your feedback. And feel free to leave a link back to your own blog too if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site.

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Until next time,

Meredith